Coverall finisher



April ,1959 J. N. M MILLAN 2,883,092

COVERALL FINISHER Filed Aug. 12, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jerry N. McMillan INVENTOR.

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April 21, 1959 J. N. MOMILLAN COVERALL FINISHER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 12, 1957 Fig. 2

Jerry IV. McMillan IN VEN TOR a w mm April 21, 1959 J. N. MoMlLLAN COVERALL. FINISHER 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 12, 1957 Jerry M McMi/lan 1N VEN TOR.

BY com WW9 FM United States Patent COVERALL FINISHER Jerry N. McMillan, Colville, Wash. Application August 12, 1957, Serial No. 677,469 15 Claims. cl. 223-70 This invention relates to apparatus for finishing fabric articles in a complete and expeditious manner.

An object of this invention is to provide a new appara-tus for finishing fabric articles both rapidly and automatically.

Another object of the present invention lies in the provision of a machine for finishing fabric articles and particularly coveralls.

A further object of the invention. lies in the provision of apparatus for finishing a coverall which comprises supporting the articles to form an enclosure and introducing into the fabric coverall heated air under sufficient pressure to cause the heated air to pass outwardly through the weaving of the fabric, whereby moisture is evaporated and the fabric is held in a tautened state so as to dry the fabric in a substantially Wrinkle-free condition.

In order to be elfective under a wide variety of conditions, there is a controlled steam circuit which admits a quantity of water, thereby providing the correct moisture for releasing the wrinkles in the fabric articles. The steam is required when the articles to be finished are dry, but when their fabrics are moist already, the application of steam may not be necessary.

To increase the speed with which the machine is capable of finishing the fabric articles, I employ forced air from a blower which preferably has its temperature increased over the normal room temperature by means of a heater, thus efiecting a more rapid drying and finishing of the articles.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a fully automatic finisher which after being set into operation has :a full cycle of first steaming the article thereon and then drying it by forcing heated air therethrough and less than a full cycle by omitting the steaming step according to manual selection.

The leg forms and chest plate as well as arm forms of the invention have novel construction. This is particularly true in connection with those parts which have steam discharge lines in them. The chest plate has a collar supporting form which is heated either by an elec-. tric heater or by steam so that the collar is certain to be finished, this being a particularly difiicult part of coverall and similar clothing items to finish correctly by an automatic machine.

Yet another object of the invention is to providea finishing machine which has a housing effective as a conduit to conduct air under pressure from an air blower through the coverall openings such as the legs, sleeves, and collar opening, into the coverall.

A still further object of the invention lies in the provision of a machine for finishing a coverall which means when accommodating a coverall holds it erect. There are means provided in the machine for applying steam under reasonable pressure to the coverall and at a location which will most effectively moisten the coverall, and there are other means rendered operative for a correct duration to blow heated air under pressure through r in a manner particularly adapted for practice with respect 2,883,092 Patented Apr. 21, 1959.

the fabric of the coverall, and thereby dry them be substantially wrinkle-free condition.

Other objects and features of importance such as the mechanical simplicity of the invention will become apparent in following the description of the illustrated form of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of the present specification, I have disclosed one physical embodiment constructed in accordance ,with my present invention, but it is to be understood that the drawings are exemplifying only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention beyond that expressly stated in the appended claims and required by the existing prior art Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fabric finishing machine;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of the machine in Figure 1; I

.Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the plane indicated by line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the plane indicated by line 4-4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is an elevational view of the culf form; and

Figure 6 is a lateral sectional view taken on the plane indicated by line 6-6 of Figure 5.

My present invention is in this embodiment disclosed to the finishing of coveralls. It is to be understood, however, that even though I have disclosed such a machine in the drawings and described such disclosure in this specification, 'it is not my intention to be limited unnecessarily to the exact physical structures herein dis closed.

Furthermore, it will be understood that the machine is eifective for use with any material having sufficient porosity to permit the flow of heated air therethrough which requires drying and/ or removal of wrinkles which may normally be removed by establishments commonly known as laundries or dry cleaners. Throughout this work I employ the term fabric to include such materials.

Referringnow more particularly to the drawingsin detail, I have shown a coverall finishing machine 10 constructed inaccordance with the invention and constituting the subject matter of this present invention. 7 V

The machine has for its base or frame a housing 18 of special shape, which constitutes a conduit for the flow of heated air under pressure. There is a generally horizontal platform 14 with feet 16 and of hollow formation in order to conduct fluids such as air and/or steam. An upright part of the housing or conduit 18 is elongate and leans forwardly slightly (Figure 2), terminating at its upper end in an approximately horizontal part 20. A downwardly extending generally tubular sleeve or collar supporting form 22 is attached to the bottom wall 26 of the part 20 and hasits lower end open and its upper end'in registry with an opening formed in the wall 26' and constitutes an ingress conduit. Sleeve 22 is heated by an electric heater (unshown) or by steam in a manner to be described subsequently. Shoulder plates 28 and 30 are attached to the sleeve 22 and protrude laterally from it. These accommodate the shoulders'of the coverall and support them in the operative position for finishing by the machine 10. Plates 28 and 30 are;

inclined forwardly slightly to receive the front of the,

coverall and to support it. An offset 34 is at the upper end of the rear side of U-shaped strip 32 and forms a land on which to accommodate the rear part ofthe collar of the coverall'when it is placed snugly on the chest plate which includes the U-shaped strip 32 and'the" 7 approximately horizontal portion ditto whichthe blower casing 42 is connected. The illustrated blower' le' is of" the squirrel cage type having axial air finlets 48 at both ends and" a squirrel cage blower fed through [the inlets. The outlet 50 of the blower casing 42 is registered with its discharge into the part 49 of the housing. Therefore when the blower is set into operation airis, drawn from the ambient atmosphere and propelled through thehousing (see arrows in Fig. 2) for discharge in a manner that will be described later. Motor 52 is disposed on'the casing 42 because this is a convenient place for it. It could be located elsewhere with equal success. Means such as belt and pulleys 54, drivingly connect the motor 52to the shaft 56 of the blower rotor.

Cuff forms 60 are inserted in the cuffs of the coverall to hold them spread under tension and enable the machineto operate most effectively on the sleeves and cufis of the coverall. The form consistsof a pair of spring steel leaves 62 and 64 that are connected at their ends 65 and 66. Leaves 67' and68 of spring steel or alike material, are secured intermediate their ends to' the medial parts of the leaf springs 62 and 64. When the cuff and sleeve form 60 is inserted as shown in Fig. 1, the inherent elasticity of the springs which make up the form spread the cuffs and hold the material taut.

Leg forms 70 and 72 are mounted on the top wall 73 of the housing part 14. These are oval in cross section and inclinerearwardly of the machine. They are hollow and register at their lower open ends with openings in thewall 73 in order to enable steam'pipes andair to pass freely through them and into the legs of the coverall and constitute other ingress openings. Wire frames 74 and 75 are at the open upper ends of the forms 70 and 72m facilitate the application of the legs of thecoverall on these forms. There are wire spreaders 70a and 72a hinged to the frames 75 and 74 and extending alongside of the leg forms 70 and 72. Springs 705 and 72b are attached to Spreaders 78a and 72a to yieldingly urge them in a direction to spread the pants legs of the coverall.-

heating coil 76 is disposed in the part 40 of the housing and is in alignment with thedischarge opening 50- of the blower. Steam is passed through these coils in order to heat the coils and since they are in heat ex-' change relationship with the air blown over them, the air that is propelled by the blower is heated before it enters the major part of the housing. Steam heated coil 56 is connected by an inlet pipe 78 to a source of steam as would be found in most dry cleaning plants or laundries, and the steam passes through the coil and returns through line 80. Some of the steam passing into pipe 78 is conducted by pipe 82 to the chamber 84 which functions as a steam separator for separating dry steam. The steam going to the upper end of the chamber 84 passes through an electrically operated steam valve 89 and passes through steam pipe 90 to the main conduit 91 that extends from the upper to the lower end of the housing 18. Pipe 92 is connected to pipe 91, and the pipe 92 has a plurality of steam discharge orifices along its length. Some of these are near the sleeve 22 and the steam passing through the sleeve impinges on it and heats this sleeve. Asan alternative construction a steam jacket may be provided around the sleeve 22 or within the sleeve 22,. or the steam may be substituted by an electric heater. A pressure pad 23 for the coverall is pivoted by spring arms to press against the coverall collar on sleeve 22. Additional collar clamps may be used to hold the collar suspended from the part 20 of housing 18.

The lower end of the main conduit 91 has two branches 94 and 95 which extend upwardly through the.

leg forms 70 and 72 after being fed by pipe line 96 connecte'dtoeach and to the main conduit 91.

An electrically operated water valve 98 is in a water line 100 which extends from a source of water under pressure and which connects to the line 90 downstream of valve 89. The purpose of the valve 98 is to admit a stream of water to the steam passing from chamber 84 in order to have the steamadequately moist before it passes through the orifices in the pipes92, 94 and 95. The moisture content ofthe steam will vary with the humidity, temperature and other controlling'factors.

An electrical outlet box 192 is mounted on a panel 104 and is oper'atively connected by the source of electrical energy. The electrically operated valves, preferably solenoid or relay operated, and motor 52 are wired with a standard timer 106 of the mechanical or electrical type and this monitors the system. When the control on the timer 106 is turned to the extreme circuit closing position, the circuitremains closed for a preselected time and this opens the valves 89 and 98 enabling the wet steam to pass through the pipe system shown in Figure 2 'andthoroughly' permeate the coverall that is installed on the forms-and chest plate.

At a predetermined point on the timer l06'removed from the extreme circuit closing position, the timer is etfective to close the valves 39 and 98 so that sequentially the blower 52.may apply the necessary air under pressure to fulfill the practice of the methodand complete the finishing process for the coverall.

- The previously described'structure causes the air that is blown by the air impeller and is preheated to distend or tauten the fabric while drying and thereby facilitates the job of making the coverall substantially Wrinkle-free Briefly then, the method of finishing fabric articles may be broadly understood to be in supporting or adapting-tr given fabric article in such a manner'as to form an' enclosure, introducing steam to'moisturize the fabric ifsuch is required by reason of its being initially dry; and drying the article by applying air, preferably heated, within the article to distend and tauten the fabric to remove the wrinkles while theescaping air evaporates and removes the moisture.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim:

l. A coverall finishing machine comprising a hollow housing which has an upright part and two spaced approximately horizontal parts connected to the upper and lower ends of the upright part, hollow leg forms attached to one of said approximately horizontal parts and a downwardly extending collar supporting sleeve connected to the other approximately horizontal part, means connected with said hollow housing for propelling heated air through said housing, meansfor introducing steam into the coverall at the regions of said leg forms and said sleeve.

2. A coverall finishing machine comprising a hollow housing which has an upright part and two spaced approximately horinontal parts connected to the upper and lower ends of theupright part, hollow leg-forms attached to one of said approximately horizontal parts and a downwardly'exte'nding collar supporting sleeve connected to the' other approximately horizontal part, means connected. with said hollow housing for propelling heated air through said housing, means for introducing steam into the coverall at the regions of'said leg forms and said sleeve, means connected with said steam introducing.

means for injecting a quantity of water to thoroughly wet the steam prior to discharge into the coverall.

3. The machine of claim 2, wherein said steam applying means includes a valve and a steam line controlled by said valve, a water line, and a valve controlling said' water line both of said valves being electrically operative, an electric circuit including circuit wiring having said valves operatively connected therein, and a manually set'tirner in said circuit for controlling'b'oth of said valves for a preselectedduration;

4. The machine of claim 2, wherein there is a chest plate connected to said collar supporting sleeve and including shoulder plates together with a strip depending from said collar and having a land on which to support a part of a coverall collar.

5. The machine of claim 3, wherein said steam applying means further include apertured tubes through which the steam is sprayed in said coverall leg forms and in said collar supporting sleeve.

6. A coverall finishing machine consisting essentially of a hollow housing, coverall leg forms that are hollow and carried by said housing, a chest plate, means including a coverall collar supporting sleeve for holding said chest plate in an operative position above said coverall leg forms, means for conducting wet steam to the region of said chest plate and through said leg forms to fill the coverall supported thereon with steam and thereby moisten the coverall suificiently to free the coverall of Wrinkles, and means for propelling air through said housing, said coverall leg forms and said chest plate.

7. A coverall finishing machine consisting essentially of a hollow housing, coverall leg forms that are hollow and carried by said housing, a chest plate, means including a coverall collar supporting sleeve for holding said chest plate in an operative position above said coverall leg forms, means for conducting Wet steam to the region of said chest plate and through said leg forms to fill the coverall supported thereon with steam and thereby moisten the coverall sufiiciently to free the coverall of wrinkles, means for propelling air through said housing, said coverall leg forms and said chest plate, said air propelling means including a blower having a discharge outlet in registry with said hollow housing, and a heating element communicating with the air that passes through said outlet for heating that air prior to its discharge through said housing.

8. A coverall finishing machine consisting essentially of a hollow housing, coverall leg forms that are hollow and carried by said housing, a chest plate, means including a coverall collar supporting sleeve for holding said chest plate in an operative position above said coverall leg forms, means for conducting wet steam to the region of said chest plate and through said leg forms to fill the coverall supported thereon with steam and thereby moisten the coverall sufficiently to free the coverall of wrinkles, means for propelling air through said housing, said coverall leg forms and said chest plate, said steam conducting means including a steam line terminating in apertured pipes through which steam is adapted to pass, said apertured pipes located in the region of said chest plate and said leg forms.

9. A coverall finishing machine consisting essentially of a hollow housing, coverall leg forms that are hollow and carried by said housing, a chest plate, means includ ing a coverall collar supporting sleeve for holding said chest plate in an operative position above said coverall leg forms, means for conducting wet steam to the region of said chest plate and through said leg forms to fill the coverall supported thereon with steam and thereby moisten the coverall sufiiciently to free the coverall :of wrinkles, means for propelling air through said housing, said coverall leg forms and said chest plate, said steam conducting means including a steam line terminating in apertured pipes through which steam is adapted to pass, said apertured pipes located in the region of said chest plate and said leg forms, means operative simultaneously with the passage of steam through said pipes for applying a charge of water into the steam line for admixture with the steam and thereby assuring that the steam is in a wet condition.

10. The combination of claim 9, wherein there is a steam separator in said steam line and upstream of the steam control valve.

11. The combination of claim 8, wherein there is for each sleeve of the coverall a sleeve form for the cufis of the sleeves and including elastic members which hold the cult portion of the sleeve spread apart and under tension.

12. A coverall finishing device comprising hollow leg forms and a collar supporting sleeve fixed relative to each other to receive respectively the legs and collar of a coverall; means connected with at least one of said forms or sleeve for propelling heated air therethrough, whereby a coverall cooperably positioned thereon may be distended by said air; and means for selectively introducing steam into a coverall cooperably positioned on said forms and sleeve.

13. A coverall finishing machine comprising hollow leg forms and a spaced opposed collar supporting sleeve fixed relative to each other to receive the legs and collar of a coverall respectively; means connected with said forms and sleeve for propelling heated air therethrough, Whereby to introduce air into a coverall mounted upon said forms and sleeve; other means for intermittently introducing steam into said coverall when mounted upon said forms and sleeve; and releasable fastening means for releasably securing the legs and collar of said coverall in communicating relationship with said forms and sleeves.

14. Apparatus for finishing a coverall comprising a source of air under pressure; means for heating said air; a form adapted to receive and support a coverall to form an enclosure; said form including ingress conduits adapted to communicate one with each leg and the collar of a coverall; conduit means communicating said source of air under pressure to discharge into said enclosure formed by said coverall; and means for releasably securing a coverall to said form, whereby said air under pressure may pass through the fabric of and finish said coverall.

15. Apparatus for finishing a coverall comprising a source of heated air under pressure; means for supporting a coverall so that said coverall may form an enclosure and adapted to communicate the source of air under pressure with the interior of said enclosure; and means including ingress conduits adapted to communicate one with each leg and the collar of a coverall; a source of moisture under pressure communicating through said conduits and adapted to effect moisturizing of said coverall; and control means operable to control said source of heated air under pressure and said source of moisture for sequentially moisturizing and thence finishing said coverall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,736,472 Jackson Feb. 28, 1956 2,772,039 Hoover et a1 Nov. 27, 1956 2,805,009 Jackson Sept. 3, 1957 

